Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Bobby Dee Cruz was sentenced to 18 years-to-life in prison as a persistent violent felon after being convicted for slashing the neck of a fellow patron at a Long Island City strip club in 2019.

District Attorney Katz said: “Thankfully, the victim survived this unprovoked grisly attack, which not only left a lasting scar but painful memories as well. The long sentence imposed today by the Court punishes the defendant for his vicious actions.”

Cruz, 35, of Webster Avenue, in the Bronx, was convicted in September of attempted assault in the first degree and assault in the second degree. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michelle Johnson who presided over the trial today sentenced Cruz as a persistent violent felon to an indeterminate term of 18 years-to-life in prison.

As captured by security camera footage, during the early morning hours of April 20, 2019, inside of the Show Palace NYC Gentleman’s Club, located at 42-50 21^st Street in Long Island City, Cruz approached another man who was restrained from behind.  Cruz slashed the 31-year-old victim with a sharp object, causing a four-inch long laceration that penetrated the left side of the victim’s neck. The victim was taken to a local hospital for surgery.

Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Brewer, of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Jonathan Sennett, Bureau Chief, Michelle Goldstein, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, and Philip Anderson and Barry Frankenstein, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney of the Investigations Division Gerard Brave.